Jack Riviere is currently a student in California State University, East Bay’s Masters Program in Education (Online Teaching and Learning). As a middle school teacher in Santa Clara, California, he has found the topic of virtual teamwork to become increasingly important as more and more learning takes place in online learning communities.
There’s been a great deal written about virtual teamwork in the past few years. Thomas Friedman extolled virtual teamwork’s role in capitalism’s finest days in “The World is Flat”—released a few short years before the Great Recession began. Marc Prensky has pointed out the educational value of virtual teamwork in game playing in “Don’t Bother Me, Mom—I’m Learning!” Now there’s talk about Twitter being the next best tool for virtual teams. What’s one to think? Since I am currently a student in CSU East Bay’s Masters Program in Education (Online Teaching and Learning), I find the subject of virtual teamwork in online learning communities to be of special interest to me. It is hoped that a tour of my past experiences with virtual teams can help inform my future designs of online virtual teamwork experiences for students. Let’s look at my limited experience in this arena.
I was hired by Siemens Rolm many years ago even though I did not even know how to use a personal computer in a worthwhile way. In case you didn’t know, Siemens Rolm created a computerized branch exchange. That is basically a private phone system that saves an organization money while also protecting its privacy. Rolm also invented what they called phone mail and what others referred to as voice mail. Siemens Rolm sold both computer phone systems and contracts for their support.
After three months of intense training I was made a Telco/Vendor Coordinator. It meant that I helped coordinate work that included more people than just the customer and Siemens Rolm. This would usually involve the local and long distance phone companies and any vendors who manufactured products that we sold.
So what was my virtual team experience like there? Well, it was actually pretty cool. I would be wearing a headset with a tiny little clear tube that somehow captured my voice perfectly as I spoke to an irate law firm partner who’s T1 (a phone line that had what was considered a blazing speed of 1.44 megabytes per second) was down. I could even turn this into a conference call with both our tech support guy on site and the ATT guy who was in a fourth location. Simultaneously, I would have two computer monitors on my desk displaying information. One was showing the details of the customer’s system which I had connected to and the other was showing the details of the customer account along with all the problem-solving that had already taken place. When everything went perfectly, it was quite satisfying to see issues resolved quickly.
But that was not always to be. Often I would have tech guys or customers complain that they could not hear me. I would speak louder to no avail. I would end up having to ask the tech support person on site to look at my faulty headset. Remember that tiny little clear tube on the headset? Well, apparently there was some kind of design flaw in it. It did not work well when clogged up with peanut butter.
What did I learn from this virtual team experience? First, I learned that having the right tools can make virtual teamwork much easier. We used state of the art computers, software, and methodologies. Second, I learned that each person understanding his or her role on the team was incredibly effective. When I spoke with our field crew and ran diagnostic tests, there was always a clearly defined role for each of us. We learned the joy of telling customers, “This is a problem created by your telco.”
A couple years later I moved to Tokyo and I ended up working as a proofreader and editor for a translation company there. The company’s clients included Sony, Toyota, and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Even though I worked with the staff at the company’s headquarters face to face, the bulk of the company’s work—translating documents—was done by virtual teams. The company had a network of both translators and customers around the world. We communicated via email and by phone and sent documents across the Internet.
I learned the importance of being on time in Tokyo. In fact I learned this had a different definition compared to California. In California, arriving exactly on time or less than 5 minutes late was often considered on time. In Tokyo, I could see from subtle interactions that arriving at work one minute before I was supposed to be there did not get me the enthusiastic welcome that arriving ten minutes before I was supposed to arrive. Of course, it did not take the most sensitive person to notice the complete lack of greeting I received when I arrived three minutes late. The importance of meeting team members expectations is relevant for both face-to-face and virtual teams.
I think I already enjoyed working with people from different cultures and backgrounds long before moving to Japan, but the international texture of our virtual teams brought out the importance of that. Work can often be stressful so there’s no room for prejudice complicating an already demanding task.
I also learned how a virtual team sometimes has to show its face when times get tough. Our company had a very prestigious client who was informed by a competitor that our company’s work for the client was not as good as the work that they could provide. A face-to-face meeting was arranged at the client’s world headquarters in which we successfully demonstrated not only the competence of our virtual team members spread around the globe but showed how the competitor’s work was of very low quality in comparison.
I learned the importance of each person being dedicated to excellence in their particular roles, whether someone is looking over your shoulder or not. Most of the translation company’s work was never scrutinized on that kind of level, but I was grateful our North American translator and our Editor in Fukoaka had done their jobs so well that my job in defending them was made all the easier.
Years have passed since I had these experiences but the lessons have stuck with me. I’ve worked on a number of virtual teams since starting the masters program at CSU East Bay. I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn about how online teaching and learning should go, but also how they actually run since this program is done entirely online. Being a virtual team member in a learning community is different than being a virtual team member for a business. In some ways, the role each person plays in a business is more easily defined, often by one’s job title.
Another important distinction between online learning communities and businesses is the problem a team is focused on solving. Problems in business are genuine while many problems addressed in an online class were created for the purpose of practicing as a team. The inorganic nature of contrived problems makes the entire process less exciting. However, my favorite online assignments were ones in which I identified an existing problem and was given the freedom to seek solutions for that problem in a systematic way that did not necessarily require the use of a team. Virtual teams should be used when they are needed, not just to give people “experience” with them since that tainted experience will not win many converts. The way I see it, there are so many real problems that have not been solved in the world. Why try to create new ones? Online course designers should allow students to choose one of these real problems and then work on a solution. When that solution requires the help of a virtual team, the team should be created.
In my online program I’ve learned many lessons about virtual teamwork. I’ve learned that we should not get stressed out when one member “disappears” for a few days. Various personal situations often arise. I’ve learned that investing a lot of time in building a consensual plan of action early on in the process has two big benefits—the members feel more bonded to each other and it’s easier to work on a well-defined project.
Since the practice of virtual teams in learning communities is at a much younger stage than the business community, many of the norms are still being established. I hope to see the best practices of virtual teams as learned by the business world incorporated into online learning; of course, our teams should reflect the unique nature of online learning communities. And I wouldn’t mind an occasional face to face meeting along the way.